[Tyson]

OK, I can't resist a little bit of commentary and a few pics.  Here's my super-compressed impressions. 

• Show goer attendance was way down this year.  I could navigate the halls and not actually rub elbows with anyone.
  
  
• Vendor attendance was way down, too.  It was more slanted toward mainstream vendors and even a bit more of lifestyle type systems.  The element that was gone was the "my crazy uncle loves audio so much that he started his own audio company which makes magnets to attach to power cords because reasons!"  That made me a bit sad, actually.
   
• The remodel/refresh they did to the Marriott over the past year was really nice - I liked the new look and feel of the place.
   
• Headfi seems to have reached a saturation point.  How can I tell?  Well the vendors are starting to do really stupid shit.  Like - lets put 18 drivers in our IEMs!!!  Or lets jack up prices so that our crappy rebranded chinese crap sells for $600 for the cheap model and $2000 for the high end model (both of which kinda suck).  Or the look of quiet desperation vendors faces.  Actually, considering how many times people called out to me and tried to motion me over to check out their gear, maybe the desperation wasn't all that quiet.
   
• Wow are audiophiles old.  I mean very, very old.  Like Rolling Stones old.  I was joking with Jason that old rich white democrats go to concerts and old rich white republicans go to audio shows.  Later I realized this was unfair.  In fact our hobby is filled with definite beta males that are only comfortable emoting in their basement while listening to....whatever.   Lets put it this way - I'm 45 and I'm still among the younger attendees of the show.  This year I played a fun game called "Make eye contact with the introverts".  During all of RMAF I think only 4 or 5 people actually met/retuned my gaze.  Everyone else was REALLY fascinated with what the floor looked like    And I say that AS an introvert myself! 
  
  
• Of course getting to hang with Jason and Rim (and Laura and Lou and Scott and Knut and, and, and...) that was very cool.  Dinner at Shanahan's was awesome as always.  It was particularly amusing because the Australian we sat across from seemed to be continually mildly surprised that he was sitting next to Americans that were actually a little bit cultured and thoughtful.
   

Alright, enough rambling.  Time for pics.  Now, before you ask, I'll tell you up front.  I went into every single room at RMAF and I spent at least one hour in every room thoroughly evaluating every aspect of performance.  The systems that were good, I took a quick picture of.  ALL of the other systems sounded shitty.  So if you don't see your favorite vendor pictured below, well you can guess what I thought of it. 

Did I mention Denver is freaking awesome?





VAC and Tannoy room sounded very good:





Carver room sounded great on Saturday and not so great on Sunday (I know, weird, right?):





Verity speakers looked amazing and sounded really good too:





We went to a nightclub!  Just kidding.  It was a weird room at RMAF that I saw no actual reason for:





Skull shaped headphone amp for $14,000!  I kid you not.  Holy crap what is wrong with this hobby?




Macintosh room!  Sounded like it looked - bright and fake:





Salk/Lampizator room.  Flat out the BEST I have ever heard the Salk speakers.  Great, great room.




Abyss headphones are the ones that make you look the coolest!  Too bad they are so meh sounding.





Oh man, I haven't heard Paradigm speakers in years, time to give them another shot.  How did they sound?  Oh they sounded like someone put a big mesh grill in front of the drivers.  How does this even get out of the brainstorming stage?





Vaughan speakers - sounded good this year, but they were better last year in a larger room.  Great speakers, but they need a bit of room to breath, IMO.





ELAC Adante tower speakers - my vote for best sound at RMAF.  What Andrew Jones has been able to create for $5000 with ELAC is kind of astonishing.  Especially considering the stupid high price of other speakers that don't even reach this level of performance.





Raidho Speakers - really good sound and stupid high price.





Actual Best in Show, IMO.  The Vinnie Rossi / Spatial Audio room.  Vinnie of course always knocks it out of the park.  And I've always like Spatial speakers in the past.  But the combo of these 2 was something special.  True synergy and easily the best sound at RMAF this year, IMO. And I stupidly did not take a picture!  So I'm stealing a pic from someone else online:

[S Clark]

Thanks, Tyson.  Not bad for half-assed. 

[Zero]

Tyson,

First, I thought you were done with this sh*t?  I knew you couldn't resist.

Second, glad to see your b*** a**  friend, Jason, is still alive.  Wouldn't have believed it without the photographic evidence.  As a side note, it's good to see the pleasantly miserable couple reunited at their annual stomping ground. And on a beautiful fall day, no less!

Lastly, Thanks for posting up your impressions.  As always, I enjoy reading through your raw, unfiltered thoughts. It's even better when everything is short n' sweet.  As a side note...  I wonder..  do people know how friendly you are in person (as opposed to your persona through text)?  Wait, did I just spill the beans?  Naw..  It's just another trait of the introverted Audiophile. 

[Spatial Audio]

Thanks Tyson for the Best of Show comment. The picture you have is the Spatial X1 from the LA show. Here is a pic of the new X2 and the LIO you heard at RMAF:

[Tyson]

Thanks Tyson for the Best of Show comment. The picture you have is the Spatial X1 from the LA show. Here is a pic of the new X2 and the LIO you heard at RMAF:

Fixed!  Thanks   And congrats on an amazing room.

[Tyson]

Tyson,

First, I thought you were done with this sh*t?  I knew you couldn't resist.

Second, glad to see your b*** a**  friend, Jason, is still alive.  Wouldn't have believed it without the photographic evidence.  As a side note, it's good to see the pleasantly miserable couple reunited at their annual stomping ground. And on a beautiful fall day, no less!

Lastly, Thanks for posting up your impressions.  As always, I enjoy reading through your raw, unfiltered thoughts. It's even better when everything is short n' sweet.  As a side note...  I wonder..  do people know how friendly you are in person (as opposed to your persona through text)?  Wait, did I just spill the beans?  Naw..  It's just another trait of the introverted Audiophile. 

Being done with this shit - I honestly had no plans to post anything.  Hell, I didn't even go on Friday.  Then Saturday I didn't think we'd even get through more than a couple floors.  But it's amazing how quickly you can go through things when you can immediately skip every Focal room, ever Vandersteen room, every Von Schweikert room, every Wilson room, every B&W room, every Dynaudio room, every lifestyle oriented room and every room where someone brings a stupid small bookshelf speaker with a 6 inch midwoofer and a 1 inch dome tweeter. 

We aren't miserable I think, as much as disenchanted.  My systems stable enough nowadays that I'm away from the buying/churning aspect of this hobby for most of the year.  So every RMAF it's sticker shock all over again.  As I told Wayne today (he's missed several RMAFs because he lost interest a while back): "The gear doesn't sound any better than it did 4 years ago.  But it's a LOT more expensive!"

[Wayne1]

I was fortunate to get a guided tour from both Pez and Tyson today through the best/worst rooms at RMAF.

I do agree with Tyson the attendance was way down for both vendors and attendees. There were floors with no one on them with vendors almost grabbing you to try to get you to come into their rooms so they would have something to do.

I absolutely agree that the Tannoy/ VAC room was one of the stand outs. Evey one else on that floor in the same size suites had terrible problems with room boom. Tannoy/VAC had it tamed. I would hope they would for the money wanted for the gear.

For my 63 yr old ears, the Carver room on Sunday was not what I wanted to hear. Very typical boom and sizzle. The highs were far too hot from the Amazing Line source. The image with the multiple side firing woofers was indistinct.

I stopped in the Vaugh room with Jason and again though the tweeters were turned up too high. Very much sizzle without any steak.

I briefly heard the Elac. Overall very nice first impression, but I thougt I was hearing some minor coloration from the aluminum cones.

I really, REALLY liked the Raidho speaker. One of my personal favorites of the show. Until I found out they were $122,000.00

The Spatial X2 and VR system was very, very good, but I still can't fully accept OB. I really want a sealed box.

I don't think Tyson took any pictures, but I really liked what Duke LeJuene was showing. I did not stay to hear the full demo, but just the plain speaker were sound very good without the ambiance module.

Dan Wright and Lou Hinkley's room in IRIS, sounded real nice when I arrived Sunday Morning. The new 10" woofer was exceptional. He finally took my advice  and separated the crossover from the cabinet nd is mechanically isolating the speaker wire runs to the drivers.

I am not too sure about the aesthetic design of his new TOTL speakers. I understand that practically it is easier and cheaper to ship four smaller cartons, but aesthetically, one single large speaker might look better. Whaterver, I did like the sound in their room .

[Zero]

Tyson,

You're right. 'Disenchanted' is the more accurate descriptor.  Still, I think you two are Mary Poppin's compared to yours truly.     "Burn them all!" should be my new audiophile motto!

Seriously though, I wish I coulda been there.  Glad to see you out and having a good time with good company.  The latter is what this gig is mostly about anyway.

[Tyson]

Tyson,

You're right. 'Disenchanted' is the more accurate descriptor.  Still, I think you two are Mary Poppin's compared to yours truly.

[AJinFLA]

We went to a nightclub!  Just kidding.  It was a weird room at RMAF that I saw no actual reason for:

Nice coverage. Were they playing surround tracks in the night club room?

cheers,

AJ

[schw06]

Tyson,
   You missed your calling! I find myself laughing out loud at how you "call out" everyone and everything that is dysfunctional in this hobby. Your brutal honesty and humor are a breath of fresh air. Please don't stop.
David

[mtrot]

"This year I played a fun game called "Make eye contact with the introverts".  During all of RMAF I think only 4 or 5 people actually met/retuned my gaze.  Everyone else was REALLY fascinated with what the floor looked like    And I say that AS an introvert myself!"

Lol, I think I may have a diagnosis for this apparent malady.  It's called the, "I spent way too much on my current system to be here and find out that my system is crap compared to these, and don't bother me just right now" syndrome!

I actually would have been there, except that my niece, out of all the weekends of the year, decided to get married Saturday evening.  It is a bit disconcerting that attendance seems to be declining.  And it doesn't seem a good sign either that the Anaheim show was cancelled.  Thanks for the great report.

[zybar]

I was fortunate to get a guided tour from both Pez and Tyson today through the best/worst rooms at RMAF.

I do agree with Tyson the attendance was way down for both vendors and attendees. There were floors with no one on them with vendors almost grabbing you to try to get you to come into their rooms so they would have something to do.

I absolutely agree that the Tannoy/ VAC room was one of the stand outs. Evey one else on that floor in the same size suites had terrible problems with room boom. Tannoy/VAC had it tamed. I would hope they would for the money wanted for the gear.

For my 63 yr old ears, the Carver room on Sunday was not what I wanted to hear. Very typical boom and sizzle. The highs were far too hot from the Amazing Line source. The image with the multiple side firing woofers was indistinct.

I stopped in the Vaugh room with Jason and again though the tweeters were turned up too high. Very much sizzle without any steak.

I briefly heard the Elac. Overall very nice first impression, but I thougt I was hearing some minor coloration from the aluminum cones.

I really, REALLY liked the Raidho speaker. One of my personal favorites of the show. Until I found out they were $122,000.00

The Spatial X2 and VR system was very, very good, but I still can't fully accept OB. I really want a sealed box.

I don't think Tyson took any pictures, but I really liked what Duke LeJuene was showing. I did not stay to hear the full demo, but just the plain speaker were sound very good without the ambiance module.

Dan Wright and Lou Hinkley's room in IRIS, sounded real nice when I arrived Sunday Morning. The new 10" woofer was exceptional. He finally took my advice  and separated the crossover from the cabinet nd is mechanically isolating the speaker wire runs to the drivers.

I am not too sure about the aesthetic design of his new TOTL speakers. I understand that practically it is easier and cheaper to ship four smaller cartons, but aesthetically, one single large speaker might look better. Whaterver, I did like the sound in their room .

Glad to see you post Wayne.

I hope you are doing well.

George

[konut]

Your half-assed coverage is better than the fully-assed coverage. Keep it up!

[Big Red Machine]

I agree with Wayne's assessment.

I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of digital/electronic noise this year. Many quiet systems at play that really let the music flow.

My favorite speakers were the Lumenwhites, any Tidals, Wilson Alexia II's, and Focal Sopra 3's used in about 8 rooms.

With relatively empty rooms I got to talk engineering with many organizations and there is some cool stuff going on. But you'll pay for that research eventually!!

I really appreciated Jason's and Tyson's much more relaxed behavior this year since they weren't running from one room to another and we actually got to sit and chat.

[rollo]

   Nice coverage Tyson, thanks. See ya'all at CAF.


charles

[witchdoctor]

Did you see the esoteric room?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtB871VbS4s

[ArthurDent]

Thanks for the coverage Tyson, appears 'fully-assed' to me. Your usual no BS thoughts & observations are appreciated, as always.   

[Tyson]

Did you see the esoteric room?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtB871VbS4s

I think you missed this part of my original post:

Alright, enough rambling.  Time for pics.  Now, before you ask, I'll tell you up front.  I went into every single room at RMAF and I spent at least one hour in every room thoroughly evaluating every aspect of performance.  The systems that were good, I took a quick picture of.  ALL of the other systems sounded shitty.  So if you don't see your favorite vendor pictured below, well you can guess what I thought of it. 

[MarkR7]

I think you missed this part of my original post:

Tyson, first of all, thanks for the show summary. Good coverage for sure, and we appreciate your efforts!

I was lookiing for (expecting) a system pic of the room with Tekton's Dual Impacts in it, but based on the above, I guess you didn't care for the room.  They seem to be all the rage over on Audiogon... perhaps yet another "product of the month" with all the raves.

Anyways, thanks again!